States Move Toward Closer Scrutiny of Preschools

While most policymakers still
agree that preschoolers are too
young to be graded for their academic
work, some states are
moving ahead with efforts to certify
early-childhood programs according
to how well children who
go through those programs perform
in kindergarten.

Developed by the University of
Texas Health Science Center at
Houston, the certification program
was created under a state law
passed in 2005 as a way to build on
work Texas was already doing to
train preschool teachers, particularly
in teaching early literacy
skills. The state requires preschool
teachers in programs receiving public funding to have at least a bachelor’s
degree.

While participation is voluntary,
organizers of the program
expect thousands more providers
to sign up over the next year. The
state has one of the largest publicly
funded preschool programs
in the country, serving more than
180,000 children ages 3 and 4.

“Our role here is to help our parents
have some guide” in choosing
a preschool, said Susan Gunnewig,
the associate director of the center,
who expressed surprise at the wide
acceptance the idea has received.

Some experts in early-childhood
assessment, however, still argue
that there is so much variability in
children’s experiences before they
attend kindergarten that it’s unfair
to expect preschool teachers to
eliminate those gaps in one or two
years.

“It’s a very naive theory of
learning,” said Samuel J. Meisels,
the president of the Chicagobased
Erikson Institute, a graduate
school in child development.
“It’s one that says children have
no history. They come to us simply
as blank slates.”

Accountability Sought

Child-care and preschool rating
systems have been spreading
across the country for years, as a
way both to inform parents about
the level of program quality they
can expect and to encourage centers
to strive for higher standards.
At least 16 states already have
some form of rating program.

In most cases, participation by
providers is voluntary and is separate
from a state’s licensing requirements,
although North Carolina
integrates the rating into its
licensing system. Separately, the
National Association for the Education
of Young Children, based
in Washington, D.C., accredits
preschool programs.

Texas’ “school ready” program—
in which preschools and
Head Start centers will receive a
seal to display in their facilities—
is part of a new strategy by
some states to consider the performance
of children after they
leave preschool.

Preschool Scorecard

The Web-based School Readiness Certification System in Texas
includes information on:

• The type and amount of instruction pupils receive and monthly
attendance data on those who will be going to kindergarten.

• Staff, curriculum, and professional development.

• Teaching practices, based on reports completed by each teacher
who has pupils moving on to kindergarten.

• Reading and social-behavior scores on all kindergarten children
who attended a preschool that submitted an application.

• The number of classrooms in a preschool that have met the
certification criteria.

Florida instituted a kindergarten
test last year to gauge
how well that state’s pre-K program,
which enrolls 105,000 children,
is preparing youngsters for
academic work. Providers and advocates, however, contend that
the test is unfair.

“The overall response among
providers has been poor because
it’s not testing how well the program
has moved the child from
the beginning [of preschool],” said
Amanda Ostrander, a spokeswoman
for Children’s Campaign
Inc., an advocacy group based in
Tallahassee, Fla. “There is a big
push from the field to change the
assessment piece.”

Under the Florida system, pre-K
programs whose “kindergartenreadiness
rate” falls in the bottom
15 percent of all providers are considered
“low-performing providers,”
which means they have to submit
an improvement plan. If the programs
don’t improve after three
years, they could lose their state
pre-K funding.

Ms. Ostrander added that the
“high-stakes test” is not a good
match for a state pre-K program
that does not require teachers
to have even a two-year college
degree.

Getting Along

While Florida’s kindergarten test
is still primarily based on literacy
scores, the Texas program includes
a component that many experts in
early-childhood education have
been asking for: some attention to
children’s social development.

Surveys typically show that
kindergarten teachers value a
child’s ability to follow directions
and to share with classmates as
much as—if not more than—
math and language skills.

“We’re developmental psychologists.
For us it would be malpractice
not to consider [social skills],”
Ms. Gunnewig said, noting that
early literacy skills and good behavior
are closely linked. “You
can’t be very social if you have
low language [skills].”

But Ms. Gunnewig added that
the certification program is still in
its pioneer phase and isn’t perfect.
Currently, for example, some classrooms
in a particular center may be
certified while others are not. That
might happen because not enough
follow-up data were found for the
children from that classroom, or
the application was incomplete.

In the future, the goal is to have
all classrooms certified in order
for a center to earn the “school
ready” distinction.

“We want to build up classrooms
for the whole building,” Ms.
Gunnewig said. “We don’t like
seeing teachers being pitted
against each other.”

Vol. 27, Issue 03, Pages 18, 20

Published in Print: September 12, 2007, as States Move Toward Closer Scrutiny of Preschools

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